THE PSALMS OF DAVID

[Dawn Marie]

PSALM I

The happiness of the just and the evil state of the wicked.

Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the chair of pestilence. But his will is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he shall meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree which is planted near the running waters, which shall bring forth its fruit, in due season. And his leaf shall not fall off: and all whatsoever he shall do shall prosper. Not so the wicked, not so: but like the dust, which the wind driveth from the face of the earth. Therefore the wicked shall not rise again in judgment: nor sinners in the council of the just.

For the Lord knoweth the way of the just: and the way of the wicked shall perish.

[Dawn Marie]

PSALM LXXIX

 

 

A prayer for the church in tribulation, commemorating God's former favours.

 

 

Give ear, O thou that rulest Israel: thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep. Thou that sittest upon the cherubims, shine forth Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasses. Stir up thy might, and come to save us. Convert us, O God: and shew us thy face, and we shall be saved. O Lord God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy servant?

How long wilt thou feed us with the bread of tears: and give us for our drink tears in measure?  Thou hast made us to be a contradiction to our neighbours: and our enemies have scoffed at us.  O God of hosts, convert us: and shew thy face, and we shall be saved.  Thou hast brought a vineyard out of Egypt: thou hast cast cut the Gentiles and planted it.  Thou wast the guide of its journey in its sight: thou plantedst the roots thereof, and it filled the land.

The shadow of it covered the hills: and the branches thereof the cedars of God.  It stretched forth its branches unto the sea, and its boughs unto the river. Why hast thou broken down the hedge thereof, so that all they who pass by the way do pluck it?  The boar out of the wood hath laid it waste: and a singular wild beast hath devoured it.  Turn again, O God of hosts, look down from heaven, and see, and visit this vineyard:

And perfect the same which thy right hand hath planted: and upon the son of man whom thou hast confirmed for thyself. Things set on fire and dug down shall perish at the rebuke of thy countenance. Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand: and upon the son of man whom thou hast confirmed for thyself. And we depart not from thee, thou shalt quicken us: and we will call upon thy name. O Lord God of hosts, convert us: and shew thy face, and we shall be saved.

[Dawn Marie]

PSALM LXXVIII

 

 

 

The church in time of persecution prayeth for relief. It seems to belong to the time of the Machabees.

 

 

 

O God, the heathens are come into thy inheritance, they have defiled thy holy temple: they have made Jerusalem as a place to keep fruit.  They have given the dead bodies of thy servants to be meat for the fowls of the air: the flesh of thy saints for the beasts of the earth. They have poured out their blood as water, round about Jerusalem and there was none to bury them. We are become a reproach to our neighbours: a scorn and derision to them that are round about us. How long, O Lord, wilt thou be angry for ever: shall thy zeal be kindled like a fire?

Pour out thy wrath upon the nations that have not known thee: and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name. Because they have devoured Jacob; and have laid waste his place. Remember not our former iniquities: let thy mercies speedily prevent us, for we are become exceeding poor. Help us, O God, our saviour: and for the glory of thy name, O Lord, deliver us: and forgive us our sins for thy name' s sake:  Lest they should say among the Gentiles: Where is their God? And let him be made known among the nations before our eyes, By the revenging the blood of thy servants, which hath been shed:

Let the sighing of the prisoners come in before thee. According to the greatness of thy arm, take possession of the children of them that have been put to death.  And render to our neighbours sevenfold in their bosom: the reproach wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord. But we thy people, and the sheep of thy pasture, will give thanks to thee for ever. We will shew forth thy praise, unto generation and generation.

[Dawn Marie]

PSALM LXXVII

 

 

God's great benefits to the people of Israel, notwithstanding their ingratitude.

 

 

Attend, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in parables: I will utter propositions from the beginning. How great things have we heard and known, and our fathers have told us.  They have not been hidden from their children, in another generation. Declaring the praises of the Lord, and his powers, and his wonders which he hath done. And he set up a testimony in Jacob: and made a law in Israel. How great things he commanded our fathers, that they should make the same known to their children:

 

That another generation might know them. The children that should be born and should rise up, and declare them to their children. That they may put their hope in God and may not forget the works of God: and may seek his commandments. That they may not become like their fathers, a perverse and exasperating generation. A generation that set not their heart aright: and whose spirit was not faithful to God. The sons of Ephraim who bend and shoot with the bow: they have turned back in the day of battle. They kept not the covenant of God: and in his law they would not walk.

And they forgot his benefits, and his wonders that he had shewn them. Wonderful things did he do in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Tanis. He divided the sea and brought them through: and he made the waters to stand as in a vessel. And he conducted them with a cloud by day: and all the night with a light of fire. He struck the rock in the wilderness: and gave them to drink, as out of the great deep.

 

He brought forth water out of the rock: and made streams run down as rivers. And they added yet more sin against him: they provoked the most High to wrath in the place without water.  And they tempted God in their hearts, by asking meat for their desires.  And they spoke ill of God: they said: Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? Because he struck the rock, and the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed. Can he also give bread, or provide a table for his people?

 

Therefore the Lord heard, and was angry: and a fire was kindled against Jacob, and wrath came up against Israel. Because they believed not in God: and trusted not in his salvation. And he had commanded the clouds from above, and had opened the doors of heaven. And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them the bread of heaven. Man ate the bread of angels: he sent them provisions in abundance.

 

He removed the south wind from heaven: and by his power brought in the southwest wind.  And he rained upon them flesh as dust: and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea.  And they fell in the midst of their camp, round about their pavilions. So they did eat, and were filled exceedingly, and he gave them their desire:  They were not defrauded of that which they craved. As yet their meat was in their mouth:

And the wrath of God came upon them. And he slew the fat ones amongst them, and brought down the chosen men of Israel. In all these things they sinned still: and they believed not for his wondrous works. And their days were consumed in vanity, and their years in haste. When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned, and came to him early in the morning. And they remembered that God was their helper: and the most high God their redeemer.

And they loved him with their mouth: and with their tongue they lied unto him: But their heart was not right with him: nor were they counted faithful in his covenant. But he is merciful, and will forgive their sins: and will not destroy them. And many a time did he turn away his anger: and did not kindle all his wrath.  And he remembered that they are flesh: a wind that goeth and returneth not. How often did they provoke him in the desert: and move him to wrath in the place without water?

And they turned back and tempted God: and grieved the holy one of Israel. They remembered not his hand, in the day that he redeemed them from the hand of him that afflicted them: How he wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Tanis. And he turned their rivers into blood, and their showers that they might, not drink.  He sent amongst them divers sores of flies, which devoured them: and frogs which destroyed them.

And he gave up their fruits to the blast, and their labours to the locust.  And he destroyed their vineyards with hail, and their mulberry trees with hoarfrost.  And he gave up their cattle to the hail, and their stock to the fire. And he sent upon them the wrath of his indignation: indignation and wrath and trouble, which he sent by evil angels.  He made a way for a path to his anger: he spared not their souls from death, and their cattle he shut up in death.

And he killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt: the firstfruits of all their labour in the tabernacles of Cham.  And he took away his own people as sheep: and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. And he brought them out in hope, and they feared not: band the sea overwhelmed their enemies. And he brought them into the mountain of his sanctuary: the mountain which his right hand had purchased. And he cast out the Gentiles before them: and by lot divided to them their land by a line of distribution.  And he made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tabernacles.

Yet they tempted, and provoked the most high God: and they kept not his testimonies.  And they turned away, and kept not the covenant: even like their fathers they were turned aside as a crooked bow. They provoked him to anger on their hills: and moved him to jealousy with their graven things.  God heard, and despised them, and he reduced Israel exceedingly as it were to nothing. And he put away the tabernacle of Silo, his tabernacle where he dwelt among men.

And he delivered their strength into captivity: and their beauty into the hands of the enemy.  And he shut up his people under the sword: and he despised his inheritance. Fire consumed their young men: and their maidens were not lamented. Their priests fell by the sword: and their widows did not mourn. And the Lord was awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that hath been surfeited with wine.

And he smote his enemies on the hinder parts: he put them to an everlasting reproach. And he rejected the tabernacle of Joseph: and chose not the tribe of Ephraim:  But he chose the tribe of Juda, mount Sion which he loved.  And he built his sanctuary as of unicorns, in the land which he founded for ever.  And he chose his servant David, and took him from the flocks of sheep: he brought him from following the ewes great with young,

To feed Jacob his servant, and Israel his inheritance. And he fed them in the innocence of his heart: and conducted them by the skillfulness of his hands.

[Dawn Marie]

PSALM LXXVI

The faithful have recourse to God in trouble of mind, with confidence in his mercy and power.

I cried to the Lord with my voice; to God with my voice, and he gave ear to me. In the day of my trouble I sought God, with my hands lifted up to him in the night, and I was not deceived. My soul refused to be comforted: I remembered God, and was delighted, and was exercised, and my spirit swooned away. My eyes prevented the watches: I was troubled, and I spoke not.

I thought upon the days of old: and I had in my mind the eternal years. And I meditated in the night with my own heart: and I was exercised and I swept my spirit.  Will God then cast off for ever? or will he never be more favourable again?  Or will he cut off his mercy for ever, from generation to generation?  Or will God forget to shew mercy? or will he in his anger shut up his mercies?

And I said, Now have I begun: this is the change of the right hand of the most High.  I remembered the works of the Lord: for I will be mindful of thy wonders from the beginning. And I will meditate on all thy works: and will be employed in thy inventions.  Thy way, O God, is in the holy place: who is the great God like our God? Thou art the God that dost wonders. Thou hast made thy power known among the nations:

With thy arm thou hast redeemed thy people the children of Jacob and of Joseph. The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee: and they were afraid, and the depths were troubled. Great was the noise of the waters: the clouds sent out a sound. For thy arrows pass:  The voice of thy thunder in a wheel. Thy lightnings enlightened the world: the earth shook and trembled. Thy way is in the sea, and thy paths in many waters: and thy footsteps shall not be known.

Thou hast conducted thy people like sheep, by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

[Dawn Marie]

PSALM LXXV

God is known in his church: and exerts his power in protecting it. It alludes to the slaughter of the Assyrians, in the days of king Ezechias.

In Judea God is known: his name is great in Israel. And his place is in peace: and his abode in Sion: There hath he broken the powers of bows, the shield, the sword, and the battie.  Thou enlightenest wonderfully from the everlasting hills.

All the foolish of heart were troubled. They have slept their sleep; and all the men of riches have found nothing in their hands. At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, they have all slumbered that mounted on horseback.  Thou art terrible, and who shall resist thee? from that time thy wrath. Thou hast caused judgment to be heard from heaven: the earth trembled and was still, When God arose in judgment, to save all the meek of the earth.

For the thought of man shall give praise to thee: and the remainders of the thought shall keep holiday to thee. Vow ye, and pay to the Lord your God: all you that are round about him bring presents. To him that is terrible, Even to him who taketh away the spirit of princes: to the terrible with the kings of the earth.

[Dawn Marie]

PSALM LXXIV

There is a just judgment to come: therefore let the wicked take care.

We will praise thee, O God: we will praise, and we will call upon thy name. We will relate thy wondrous works: When I shall take a time, I will judge justices.  The earth is melted, and all that dwell therein: I have established the pillars thereof.  I said to the wicked: Do not act wickedly: and to the sinners: Lift not up the horn.

Lift not up your horn on high: speak not iniquity against God. For neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the desert hills: For God is the judge. One he putteth down, and another he lifteth up: For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup of strong wine full of mixture. And he hath poured it out from this to that: but the dregs thereof are not emptied: all the sinners of the earth shall drink. But I will declare for ever: I will sing to the God of Jacob.

And I will break all the horns of sinners: but the horns of the just shall be exalted.

[Dawn Marie]

PSALM LXXIII

A prayer of the church under grievous persecutions.

Understanding for Asaph. O God, why hast thou cast us off unto the end: why is thy wrath enkindled against the sheep of thy pasture? Remember thy congregation, which thou hast possessed from the beginning. The sceptre of thy inheritance which thou hast redeemed: mount Sion in which thou hast dwelt. Lift up thy hands against their pride unto the end; see what things the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary. And they that hate thee have made their boasts, in the midst of thy solemnity. They have set up their ensigns for signs, And they knew not both in the going out and on the highest top. As with axes in a wood of trees, They have cut down at once the gates thereof, with axe and hatchet they have brought it down.

They have set fire to thy sanctuary: they have defiled the dwelling place of thy name on the earth. They said in their heart, the whole kindred of them together: Let us abolish all the festival days of God from the land. Our signs we have not seen, there is now no prophet: and he will know us no more. How long, O God, shall the enemy reproach: is the adversary to provoke thy name for ever?

Why dost thou turn away thy hand: and thy right hand out of the midst of thy bosom for ever?  But God is our king before ages: he hath wrought salvation in the midst of the earth. Thou by thy strength didst make the sea firm: thou didst crush the heads of the dragons in the waters. Thou hast broken the heads of the dragon: thou hast given him to be meat for the people of the Ethiopians.  Thou hast broken up the fountains and the torrents: thou hast dried up the Ethan rivers.

Thine is the day, and thine is the night: thou hast made the morning light and the sun.  Thou hast made all the borders of the earth: the summer and the spring were formed by thee.  Remember this, the enemy hath reproached the Lord: and a foolish people hath provoked thy name.  Deliver not up to beasts the souls that confess to thee: and forget not to the end the souls of thy poor. Have regard to thy covenant: for they that are the obscure of the earth have been filled with dwellings of iniquity.

Let not the humble be turned away with confusion: the poor and needy shall praise thy name.  Arise, O God, judge thy own cause: remember thy reproaches with which the foolish man hath reproached thee all the day.  Forget not the voices of thy enemies: the pride of them that hate thee ascendeth continually.

 

[Dawn Marie]

PSALM LXXII

The temptation of the weak, upon seeing the prosperity of the wicked, is overcome by the consideration of the justice of God, who will quickly render to every one according to his works.

How good is God to Israel, to them that are of a right heart! But my feet were almost moved; my steps had well nigh slipped. Because I had a zeal on occasion of the wicked, seeing the prosperity of sinners.  For there is no regard to their death, nor is there strength in their stripes. They are not in the labour of men: neither shall they be scourged like other men.

 

Therefore pride hath held them fast: they are covered with their iniquity and their wickedness.  Their iniquity hath come forth, as it were from fatness: they have passed into the affection of the heart. They have thought and spoken wickedness: they have spoken iniquity on high.  They have set their mouth against heaven: and their tongue hath passed through the earth. Therefore will my people return here and full days shall be found in them.

 

And they said: How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High? Behold these are sinners; and yet abounding in the world they have obtained riches.  And I said: Then have I in vain justified my heart, and washed my hands among the innocent. And I have been scourged all the day; and my chastisement hath been in the mornings. If I said: I will speak thus; behold I should condemn the generation of thy children.

 

I studied that I might know this thing, it is a labour in my sight: Until I go into the sanctuary of God, and understand concerning their last ends.  But indeed for deceits thou hast put it to them: when they were lifted up thou hast cast them down. How are they brought to desolation? they have suddenly ceased to be: they have perished by reason of their iniquity. As the dream of them that awake, O Lord; so in thy city thou shalt bring their image to nothing.

 

For my heart hath been inflamed, and my reins have been changed: And I am brought to nothing, and I knew not.  I am become as a beast before thee: and I am always with thee. Thou hast held me by my right hand; and by thy will thou hast conducted me, and with thy glory thou hast received me. For what have I in heaven? and besides thee what do I desire upon earth?

 

For thee my flesh and my heart hath fainted away: thou art the God of my heart, and the God that is my portion for ever. For behold they that go far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that are disloyal to thee. But it is good for me to adhere to my God, to put my hope in the Lord God: That I may declare all thy praises, in the gates of the daughter of Sion.

[Dawn Marie]

PSALM LXXI

 

 

A prophecy of the coming of Christ, and of his kingdom: prefigured by Solomon and his happy reign.

Give to the king thy judgment, O God: and to the king' s son thy justice: To judge thy people with justice, and thy poor with judgment.  Let the mountains receive peace for the people: and the hills justice. He shall judge the poor of the people, and he shall save the children of the poor: and he shall humble the oppressor.And he shall continue with the sun, and before the moon, throughout all generations.

 

He shall come down like rain upon the fleece; and as showers falling gently upon the earth. In his days shall justice spring up, and abundance of peace, till the moon be taken sway.  And he shall rule from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.  Before him the Ethiopians shall fall down: and his enemies shall lick the ground.  The kings of Tharsis and the islands shall offer presents: the kings of the Arabians and of Saba shall bring gifts:

 

And all kings of the earth shall adore him: all nations shall serve him. For he shall deliver the poor from the mighty: and the needy that had no helper.  He shall spare the poor and needy: and he shall save the souls of the poor.  He shall redeem their souls from usuries and iniquity: and their names shall be honourable in his sight. And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Arabia, for him they shall always adore: they shall bless him all the day.

 

And there shall be a firmament on the earth on the tops of mountains, above Libanus shall the fruit thereof be exalted: and they of the city shall flourish like the grass of the earth. Let his name be blessed for evermore: his name continueth before the sun. And in him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed: all nations shall magnify him. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone doth wonderful things. And blessed be the name of his majesty for ever: and the whole earth shall be filled with his majesty. So be it. So be it. The praises of David, the son of Jesse, are ended.

 

 

[Dawn Marie]

PSALM LXX

(70)

A prayer for perseverance.

A psalm for David. Of the sons of Jonadab, and the former captives. In thee, O Lord, I have hoped, let me never be put to confusion: Deliver me in thy justice, and rescue me. Incline thy ear unto me, and save me.  Be thou unto me a God, a protector, and a place of strength: that thou mayst make me safe. For thou art my firmament and my refuge. Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the sinner, and out of the hand of the transgressor of the law and of the unjust. For thou art my patience, O Lord: my hope, O Lord, from my youth;

By thee have I been confirmed from the womb: from my mother' s womb thou art my protector. Of thee shall I continually sing:  I run become unto many as a wonder, but thou art a strong helper. Let my mouth be filled with praise, that I may sing thy glory; thy greatness all the day long. Cast me not off in the time of old age: when my strength shall fail, do not thou forsake me.  For my enemies have spoken against me; and they that watched my soul have consulted together,

Saying: God hath forsaken him: pursue and take him, for there is none to deliver him. O God, be not thou far from me: O my God, make haste to my help.  Let them be confounded and come to nothing that detract my soul; let them be covered with confusion and shame that seek my hurt.  But I will always hope; and will add to all thy praise.  My mouth shall shew forth thy justice; thy salvation all the day long. Because I have not known learning,

I will enter into the powers of the Lord: O Lord, I will be mindful of thy justice alone.  Thou hast taught me, O God, from my youth: and till now I will declare thy wonderful works.  And unto old age and grey hairs: O God, forsake me not, Until I shew forth thy arm to all the generation that is to come: Thy power, And thy justice, O God, even to the highest great things thou hast done: O God, who is like to thee? How great troubles hast thou shewn me, many and grievous: and turning thou hast brought me to life, and hast brought me back again from the depths of the earth:

 Thou hast multiplied thy magnificence; and turning to me thou hast comforted me.  For I will also confess to thee thy truth with the instruments of psaltery: O God, I will sing to thee with the harp, thou holy one of Israel. My lips shall greatly rejoice, when I shall sing to thee; and my soul which thou hast redeemed. Yea and my tongue shall meditate on thy justice all the day; when they shall be confounded and put to shame that seek evils to me.